You only have one opportunity to create a first impression.

Your brand logo is its calling card. Often, the logo is the first introduction a person has to your brand. It is the rough equivalent of a business card.

When I think of both logos and taglines, I think of them as a short hand way to communicate your brand promise. In fact, when I was running brands at P&G I actually insisted my team avoid the term tagline and instead refer to it as a brand line. My rationale was that too many times Agencies lose sight of the lines strategic purpose.

So what makes a great logo and tagline?

Let’s look at each in turn, although in final execution they need to be synergistic.

Logo

If you research the characteristics of a good logo design, the overwhelming consensus is it must meet five key criteria.

Simple

Memorable

Timeless

Versatile (scalable)

Appropriate

However, I would add a sixth criterion. It must be “on strategy”. The logo must be a visual expression of your brand promise. If it fails to do this, in my opinion the other five criteria are meaningless.

“Its who you are. What you stand for. And why the world should care. It’s what makes you tick and your customers stick. It reflects a vision and evokes an experience. It’s the embodiment of a cherished wish, a fervent hope. It tells a compelling story. It’s a calling card, an invitation, an ambassador for all seasons. It’s the reason you’re in business, expressed in a few choice words. You see, it’s not just a tagline. It’s your brand on the line.”

As you can see, both Eric and I elevate the line to a level of high strategic importance.

Eric sets four objectives for a good tagline. A tagline must:

Leverage your key assets, attributes, and advantages.

Reflect your brand vision and core values.

Promise an authentic brand experience for the stakeholders you serve.

Elevate your brand visibility and reputation.

Florida’s New Logo and Tagline

Enterprise Florida recently introduced a new logo and tagline to promote the state for business attraction, retention and expansion. It has received a lot of media coverage, and Enterprise Florida will be relying on it to help communicate that Florida deserves to be on the short list of locations for any site selection decision. But, is Florida’s new logo and tagline capable of doing the job Enterprise Florida needs it to do?

Let’s Try To Evaluate It

Logo

From a design point of view it is certainly simple. The color scheme is similar to the Florida Lottery logo green and orange, so there is some visual continuity. The type font appears to be a variation of bender, designed by Jim Dore; but is likely a custom font designed specifically for Enterprise Florida. Whether you like the font choice or not is simply a matter of personal taste. However, the font helps establish your brand character. To me this font suggests “fun”. Florida already has a challenge in business attraction because of its exceptionally strong image as a tourist destination. I would have avoided a font that reinforces that established perception. Undoubtedly, this was a point of discussion among the leadership team that made the final decision.

I think you could argue it is memorable. Certainly the green and orange color is associated with Florida, in part thanks to the wonderful branding of the University of Miami.

The choice to use a tie in place of the letter “I” is definitely clever. I think it helps with memorability, but is potentially off-putting. A tie carries a strong gender association in the world of business. It will be interesting to see if the tie becomes problematic in communicating with female executives. On the surface, this may sound like a far-fetched concern. But, there is already some concern being raised in the press about the business logo being sexist. Time will tell if this concern is a tempest in a teapot or not. To be honest, if it were my call I would not have recommended Enterprise Florida take the risk.

I think you could argue either way on the criteria of timeless. For the foreseeable future, as long a tie is a symbol of business, then it can be considered timeless. But, fashion changes and many businesses and entrepreneurs are rejecting ties as required dress code. Even P&G is business casual. I don’t know for a fact, but I strongly suspect most companies operating in Florida are business casual as well.

The logo is certainly scalable, within practical reason. It can be read whether small or large. And, since it uses the state name, I’d argue it is appropriate.

Tagline

It is hard to evaluate taglines without being able to look at the brand promise statement. So, I took a look at the Enterprise Florida website page – Why Florida – for insight into what the brand promise might be.

“The Perfect Climate For Business” is a clever play on the existing perception of Florida having great weather most of the year (ignoring hurricane season). The reader is meant to believe the business climate is just as sunny.

Using Eric’s four criteria, the tagline –

Fails to leverage key assets, attributes or advantages. Virtually every community competing for capital investment makes the claim of perfect business climate. As a consequence it is not differentiating.

You might be able to argue it communicates the vision of Florida to deliver a perfect business climate, but I don’t think you could argue it gives any insight into the brand values.

Fails to elevate the brand reputation, uncertain on elevating visibility. A generic brand statement as a tagline is a throw away, particularly when it is a blatant overstatement. In my opinion, “The Perfect Climate For Business” provides no relevant point of difference for CEOs to associate with Florida.

Discussion

I’d love to hear your assessment of the new Florida logo and tagline. As you know, an opinion is like a belly button, everybody has one. I’ve offered mine and would be interested in yours. To be clear, the proof of whether the logo and tagline are good or bad will be based on the actual economic development results Florida delivers. There are advertisements that break every rule and end up being crazily successful (e.g. VW’s Think Small campaign). Maybe Florida’s new logo and tagline will turn out to be the next exception.

This new logo and tagline is undoubetdly the outcome of trying to be something to everyone and trying to please everyone. It is far too TAME to be a competitive platform, far too sparse to stimulate any visual imagery and far too vanilla to evoke curiousity. The tie is indeed problematic although not offensive – they would have done better to select another more interesting vertical icon to make their point and introduce the only semblance of clever in the logo and tagline.

I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment that everyone says they have the perfect climate for business. In the case of Florida – they really do! But it required a more robust and creative interpretation.

Like you Ed, I say that if you are going to go to the time, trouble and expense of developing a logo and tagline (or brand) be brave and really make your mark – or don’t bother. However, if you just want a coherent logo and tagline to slap on things – well there you have it! I trust that the capable Florida ED team will deliver for them because this won’t.

Greg Fullington • Ed –
Another interesting piece. Wordmark: Agree that the tie is a clever device, but potentially tinged with cries of sexism and a poor choice, in terms of risk, when there are equally potent ideas out there. Wonder what the gender make up of the deciding team is/was?

Font: Agree. Shoulda/Coulda been solidly anchored with a more timeless and classic choice.

Brand Line: If both of the preceding elements had been handled with more of a Classic look and feel, it’s likely that the initial overall impression of the line might’ve been better. But, it wouldn’t have been a game changer.

Lastly, the brand line needs to deliver something more compelling: a real and unique reason to believe; something to provoke and maintain your interest. At its very best, I think a brand line creates an immediate emotional connection. This one doesn’t.

Given fiercely competitive economic development environment, I don’t think the people that commissioned this work or executed it really understood the mission critical nature of their assignment. In the end, it seems superficial and very ordinary. In the long run, I think the legacy effort is forgettable and cute, at best.

Florida as The Sunshine State is powerfully positioned in the leisure and associated real estate industries. Trying to make Florida also mean ‘Business’ is a strategic mistake and a mission impossible.

Q. So what should Florida do?
A. It should take a branding lesson from California – The Golden State – and one of its business brands: Silicon Valley – and drill down the destination hierarchy.

There Florida will find a large cluster of biotech/life science companies – from pharmaceuticals to medical manufacturing – with its epicenter emanating from St Petersburg and Tampa Bay.

Welcome to Florida’s new virtual business brand – The Pink Coast – inspired by the phrase: In the Pink of Health. Seen any Pink Flamingos lately?

Ed — Many thanks. This article is a master class on logo design and tagline creation.

My first thought when I saw the logo was, “That’s not Florida. Who would wear a tie in all that humidity.” Then I remembered my first visit to Atlanta and remember seeing people on the street in nicely tailored suites and ties walking through a thick cloud. Of course, that was a long time ago and I rarely see ties or tailored suite in business meetings anymore.

My thought evolved into something like, “Hmmmmm. Business in Florida. I’d never get a lick of work done there.” I suspect that they chose the tagline because of the not-so-clever pun, but it’s simply not believable. Florida has the perfect climate for play, not work… pun or no pun.

Of course, there are some excellent reasons to choose Florida as your business location. The company my wife works for moved to Jacksonville about 10 years ago. Fortunately, she gets to work from her “virtual” location in the Pacific Northwest.

As for the logo and tagline, I would have sent it back to the creative teams when I was an agency guy long ago. “Nice try, but what else have you got? Read Ed’s article before you show me another.”

Swing and a miss by the out of state branding firm selected by Enterprise Florida to capture and convey Florida’s Economic Development Mojo. I would have given anything to listen in on the Kool-Aide drinking Kumbaya sessions that thought this was the winning idea.

This post was first published in the NextGen Econmic Development for Tampa Bay LinkedIn Group – additional comments can be viewed at – http://lnkd.in/wPz7nD

All of the comments thus far are quite legitimate. Sure, the font and colors could be different but I don’t see that as a huge issue. The necktie has its obvious drawbacks, as we know, but the message sent is still clear. Not being privy to other design options or icon choices, I can’t say which one would have been best. The tagline exaggerates but even that doesn’t make it unacceptable. The tagline could have been expressed differently without using the word “perfect,” and could have emphasized “growth” instead of business. An upward arrow on the “A” in Florida might have conveyed that graphically. All in all, I’d give it a B/B- which isn’t that bad consdiering the really atrocious place branding out there. I guess the overall impression the logo/tagline conveys is that it’s lacking in the clever and contemporary department (which I believe others have stated). Bottom line: It’s already passe…which is a pity.

I think I get the double-nerd award here (font designer AND sci-fi geek) but the logo’s font is drawn from the credits font hand-lettered for the original Star Trek series and then updated for the movie and then the series Star Trek the Next Generation (with the font named “Handel” when I first used it in 1980 or so, may have different origins), and of course the ship in those shows is named “Enterprise” and Florida’s had a major space/aerospace industry from World War II pilot training at Jacksonville to Cape Kennedy/Canaveral. So they were trying to tie-in to a relatively unique cluster only a handful of places have but I think it was too subtle. An orange tie does say casual, creative, and unstuffy..also elements Florida’s been pushing in developing the game development cluster and serving all of Latin America as a business capital. I think they thought people would treat the logo as a puzzle to be solved rather than a quick glance and the tagline also assumes either a lot of knowledge about Florida’s climate to make intriguing assumptions or was the only one general enough to pass a committee. It’s always been the reason most people give for moving there so may not be as redundant or off-target as it first appears.

Great comments! Eric & Al, I like the insights you provided that offer reasons to not be negative about the logo and tagline. Every story has at least two sides and we learn best by analyzing things from as many vantage points as possible.

Nice comments from all. A firm brand promise for an entire state’s business development is a steep task. To deliver that in a strong line is, well, near impossible. Sometimes it seems a place brand may be better off without a tagline and use a themeline-headline for a particular initiative or campaign. But a tagline without an idea behind it is maybe too much to ask.

Greg, I totally agree with your comments, especially “I don’t think the people that commissioned this work or executed it really understood the mission critical nature of their assignment.” Color: awful font: awful concept: awful It just seems very amateurish.

Design, colours, details, equalizing weight, perspective, light, tension, impact, etc. all OK, but…
it is a very targetized logo, there is no “feeling” communication of a mytical experience promise, neither a hidden animic reason why to go there, oh, yes there is that tie that keep all very simple and shows a very evident deatil for an evident business reason why, but
syntetically it is a very rigid and closed expression for meaning business destination, too much traditional in front of a new era, especially when we look it from a global perspective….

Great comments full of helpful insight. I agree with most:
Pro:
– It’s a simple, clear and memorable logo.
– It plays cleverly on what Florida is famous for (climate) and leverages that to introduce the business/investment dimension …..and oodles of research shows that quality of life/feel of a place is critical for investors and relocators as long a the rational business factors (e.g. labour skills, connectivity, productivity etc.) are in place;

But – Con:
– It’s not pretty (although I agree that is relatively subjective, but I’ll bet it wouldn’t win a beauty contest);
– It feels staid, and, partic. with the tie, old-fashioned and redolent of 1950s/Mad Men, not to mention sexist – an image that Florida surely doesn’t want to stick to the state.

Bottom line:
– Is it memorable?….Yes
– Will it work well as a sign-off / attractor in marketing communications? ……Very probably.(N.B. We are being a bit hard on logos to expect that they do all the work of a brand and a marketing campaign in splendid isolation, which is what some of the above comments imply. They should always be viewed/critiqued in their marketing context)
– But it is likely to fall victim to fashion and the desire in a “new broom” future CEO for a creative change. It’s a shame that Florida has left itself open to/unable to defend itself against such a likely imminent change, by virtue of the controversial tie symbol. The value of a logo lies in, apart from the criteria identified above by Ed, its longevity and consistent usage, which engenders recognition over time by becoming embedded in consumers’ consciousness (cf. Nike, Shell). Let’s hope any such future change keeps the effective and clever bits and doesn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Great comments full of helpful insight. I agree with most:
Pro:
– It’s a simple, clear and memorable logo.
– It plays cleverly on what Florida is famous for (climate) and leverages that to introduce the business/investment dimension …..and oodles of research shows that quality of life/feel of a place is critical for investors and relocators as long a the rational business factors (e.g. labour skills, connectivity, productivity etc.) are in place;

But – Con:
– It’s not pretty (although I agree that is relatively subjective, but I’ll bet it wouldn’t win a beauty contest);
– It feels staid, and, partic. with the tie, old-fashioned and redolent of 1950s/Mad Men, not to mention sexist – an image that Florida surely doesn’t want to stick to the state.

Bottom line:
– Is it memorable?….Yes
– Will it work well as a sign-off / attractor in marketing communications? ……Very probably.(N.B. We are being a bit hard on logos to expect that they do all the work of a brand and a marketing campaign in splendid isolation, which is what some of the above comments imply. They should always be viewed/critiqued in their marketing context)
– But I fear it is likely to fall victim to fashion and the desire in a “new broom” future CEO for a creative change. It’s a shame that Florida has left itself open to/unable to defend itself against such a likely imminent change, by virtue of the controversial tie symbol. The value of a logo lies in, apart from the criteria identified above by Ed, its longevity and consistent usage, which engenders recognition over time by becoming embedded in consumers’ consciousness (cf. Nike, Shell). Let’s hope any such future change keeps the effective and clever bits and doesn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

All great comments and insight regarding the logo and design, but what I think Enterprise Florida is trying to achieve here is a new way to convey their brand. Since a brand is a statement about what you are and not what you would like to be, this logo is spot on with the bulk of Florida’s business environment and economic development leadership.

Unimaginative
Boring
Bland
Dated
Emotionless
Obsessed with good weather and ignoring economic reality
Stuck in the era of suit and ties

It was unfair of me to condemn the (out-of-state) branding firm hired by Enterprise Florida, I’m sure they delivered on what they heard and saw from state ecodev leaders.

I come from a tech background and that experience influences everything I feel about branding. Job #1 is to have a compelling product and a positive user experience. If you do that right, most of the branding takes care of itself. Slapping a new logo and tag line on the state’s ecodev brochures and web site do little to change the user experience and how people outside (and inside) the state feel about its potential for new business. We are in a state that is tripping over itself to lure the next Bass Pro Shops mega malls, why would any real high-growth, high skill company take us seriously?

[…] off-putting” to women. But it’s also too “generic,” he wrote in an extensive analysis on the blog Strengthening Brand […]

Joe Corr

February 5, 2013

It’s a ‘what’ tagline not a ‘how’ tagline. I don’t think it’s smart enough, it tries to appeal to all and in so doing fails to appeal to any specific audience. Better to appeal to the minority who may invest in Florida. Florida needs to target the industries that are best suited to the state. The tagline and logo, in my opinion, are outdated. The tie has lost traction as a symbol of business and has negative connotations of bankers and politicians. The green and orange (Tropicana) are unimaginative but I understand the need for consistency across other brands.

[…] off-putting” to women. But it’s also too “generic,” he wrote in an extensive analysis on the blog Strengthening Brand […]

Joy Randels

February 6, 2013

I believe your critique of the design is likely correct. I also think however this is one of the worst examples of branding I have seen in my career. We cannot ever expect to move forward if we continue to demonstrate the mindset of our state’s economic leadership is 1975.

Jeanne B

February 7, 2013

I hear they spent $380,000 on this campaign. I could have created a much better logo and I would have been happy with half that amount.

Totally agree, the tie is sexist. Though I do wear the occasional tie myself, just to make the guys uncomfortable.

Jim Dore

February 10, 2013

As the designer of that font used, I can say it wasn’t really designed as a Star Trek reference (though I can see the similarity, Al). It was loosely based from an old box of automotive parts from the 40s. Arguably, it’s meant to look a little “dated,” but flexible enough to feel contemporary. Well, that was the intention anyway. It all depends on the designer.

I’m happy someone decided to use it. And if Jeanne B is right, I would have liked to have seen some of that budget. 🙂

Ho-hum! Logo and tag line are boring – but that’s what I’ve come to expect from most state-business branding initiatives. As the article points out it achieves some of the points of a good brand, but just misses it on others. BUT, as a reminder, no brand image is perfect in its conception. Usually time will tell how effective it is AND that’s the bottom line – EFFECTIVENESS, not adherence to a theoretical construct. I don’t like the tie for another reason – many businesses are NOT “white collar”. It seems to imply that only “white collar” businesses are welcome, sought or otherwise fit. WHOOPS!

Joy Randels

February 11, 2013

I am the CEO of a Florida Technology Company (my fourth her in Florida) an active Angel investor and work with the EDC and Commissioners here to help technology startups and grow our high wage jobs. For those of us who actually live and operate our businesses here we are disappointed, angry and appalled at this image.
It says that Florida is out of date, out of touch and only open to big business.

The fact that we contracted an out of state agency to do the work rather than one of the more than 100 agencies in our state compounds the situation even more. There was no engagement of the business community and it just shows how out of touch Enterprise Florida really is. We have the 4th largest tech workforce in the U.S., the two closest deep water ports to the Panama Canal, world class transportation with the 4th highest number of direct international flights in the U.S., no state income tax, and cultural diversity. Most people really have no idea how much business is done here including our government officials who never bother to look below their campaign contributors for input.

Carlton Crothers

February 12, 2013

Marketing is my second passion to economic development (ED)., and branding is a very important component of a good ED strategy. IMHO, for a brand to be truly effective it needs to communicate both externally as well as internally. Not only should a brand communicate an identity, it must also evoke a call to action – only then is it effective.

I have to admit I agree with the other comments, the logo presented is too “old school.” It may have worked in the 80s, today it just speaks “old” and “out-of-touch.”

[…] the spirit of full disclosure, I have visited Florida and had a great time. I also posted on this story when the news was first […]

Marcella Hyland

February 20, 2013

How do you measure the impact of a state logo in terms of generating additional “economic development” (jobs, new business, investment, etc) within that state when there exist so many regional EDCs that are effective at capturing and building upon the local market? Perhaps the advantage of having a state logo is that it garners political capital for the regional EDC and conveys an image of the State at the national level. If Florida seeks to promote itself among the other states, than Florida needs to market more than a tie with bright colors. Further, as Joy continues to illustrate, at some point if Florida really wants to be nationally competitive (and there are many reasons why it can be successful doing so), then Florida needs to target to an audince broader than retirees or second career folks.

Frank Tamberrino

February 24, 2013

While not commenting specicially on the logo, I do want to add two points of clarification to this discussion.
1. Florida has had a tagline in the past, albeit shortlived. Someone mentioned during the initial unvieling that this was the first.. It was maybe twenty years ago.
2. Ed, the colors are University of Miami not University of Florida (blue and orange). While not important to the logo discussion, it is an important distinction to those schools.

Johnd148

It has been awhile since I wrote this post so I thought I’d see how widely used this logo is in Florida. Not surprisingly, it isn’t being quickly adopted. For example, the State of Florida (stateofflorida.com) doesn’t use it; Enterprise Florida (enterpriseflorida.com) doesn’t use it; the Florida Economic Development Council (fedc.net) doesn’t use it. I did find it used as a business card sign off in a commercial {Florida the perfect climate for business). I am sure I missed applications that leverage the logo, but the mere fact that you have to search hard to find them does not bode well for its branding value.

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